Electrical work boxes are utilized in buildings to distribute electrical power from the power supply to electrical devices such as outlets or switches. An electrical work box includes a metal or plastic housing containing a recess for electrical components such as wire outlets or switches.
Presently, conventional electrical boxes are referred to colloquially either new work boxes, for new building construction, or old work boxes, for retrofitting into existing buildings. New work boxes have protruding accessory exterior sheaths for nailing the new work boxes to exposed wood or metal studs within a building. However, because the screw or nail mounting brackets protrude up from the external silhouette shape of the work box, the brackets interfere with the flush mounting of the work box within a hole within a building wall. Moreover, old work boxes are frequently held in place by bent tabs which engage sheetrock boards thus minimizing stability, as the sheetrock is prone to gradually falling apart.
Existing electrical work boxes are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,424,406 of Slater and 4,436,952 of Lockwood.
Lockwood '952 describes a work box with a conventional accessory screw holding bracket protruding up from the surface of one of the walls of the work box. The protruding bracket interferes with the flush placement of the work box within a hole within a wall corresponding in shape to the exterior of the work box.
Slater '406 describes a work box in general but is silent about a mounting means for the work box.
Changes in the number or type of electrical component switches or outlets require further modifications. Therefore, existing electrical work boxes are ill fitted for modifications.